and a personal plea from muslims, that christian minister in florida is going ahead with plans to burn copies of the koran. i'm katie couric. also tonight, it's oil spread through the gulf. now b.p. is spreading the blame in a report on what caused the disaster. the grizzlies of yellowstone. they may be cute, but they're also hungry and dangerous. ♪ goes to show you never can tell... ♪ >> couric: what are women looking for in a dance partner? what arthur murray never told us. captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news world headquarters in new york, this is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric. >> couric: good evening, everyone. he's heard the complaints, the outrage if church groups, the military, even world leaders. but today florida pastor terry jones insisted he will go ahead with plans to burn copies of the koran on saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. in response, the state

department ordered u.s.'m be sis around the world to assess their security and brace for possible protests. general david petraeus, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, met today with afghan president hamid karzai, both warned that jones' plan could endanger u.s. troops. and the cat van said "this act would only call for new hate and violence." kelly cobiella is in gainesville, florida tonight. kelly, pastor jones is getting lots of criticism from many quarter bus he's claiming a lot of people are actually on his side. >> he does say that, katie. and he says they're simply afraid to speak out publicly so he's determined to send a message for them. with the world watching and condemning him, pastor terry jones stood firm. >> we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing. >> reporter: yet there was one small sign the pastor-- who's never read the koran or visited a mosque-- was willing to hear from the other side. he spent 30 minutes with a local

imam. >> i think the pastor as a christian will follow in the footsteps of christ and will do the right thing. >> reporter: however, jones has not changed his mind yet spurred on, he says, by the supporters who sent him copies of the koran to burn and a phone call from a man claiming to be a former special forces soldier who says he saw actions of radical muslims in the former yugoslavia. >> he said he was there as a three-story building that was a hospital-- a three-story building full of christians-- was burned to the ground and they were allowed to do nothing. >> reporter: there's no evidence that incident happened. here in his hometown, priests, rabbis and imams led more than 200 in prayer to denounce jones. >> i firmly believe it is a type of terrorism a he's committing. >> reporter: even the church jones once led in germany is distancing itself.

"the protest can only be a negative thing" the church leader says. jones left that church in 2007 amid allegations he misspent church funds, a charge he denies. his own daughter told a gainesville newspaper jones' church is a cult, closed to the outside world and controlled by him. in depositions last month for a lawsuit, jones said hinduism, buddhism and judaism all are of the devil. last year, the church lashed out against gainesville's openly gay mar mayor. >> trying to convert gainesville into homoville. >> reporter: that was protected under free speech but the mayor says burning books without a permit is different. >> that is an illegal act and there are procedures in place for someone who does that. >> reporter: jones will likely face civil penalties if he follows through with this protest. he says he's aware of that and it will not stop him. katie? >> couric: kelly cobiella reporting from gainesville, florida. kelly, thank you. meanwhile, jan crawford in washington is our chief legal correspondent.

in light of the government's grave concerns, can it do anything to stop this minister from burning copies of the koran? >> well, katie, the city's ordnance that requires a permit to burn trash outdoors could conceivably limit burning books outdoors. but that law has got to be evenly applied across the board otherwise as long as those are his korans on his property the government can't stop him under the first amendment he has a constitutional right to express his views even one it is government thinks are dangerous or unpatriotic. katie, that's why the supreme court struck down a law banning flag burning. in that case, the court said prohibiting people from mutilating the american flag was an illegal attempt to restrain speech. >> couric: but what, jan, if this act invites violence against muslims? >> well, that could make it a different case, katie. the supreme court has ruled that the government can ban speech that directly incites people to commit violence. but even cross burning-- which is considered by many people to really be the most hateful type of speech-- doesn't necessarily

rise to that level. the court in 2003 struck down part of a virginia law that banned cross burning. the justices said it was illegal only if it's done specifically to intimidate someone. katie? >> couric: all right. jan crawford in washington. jan, thanks very much. now to the war in afghanistan. general petraeus has said the u.s. cannot succeed without winning the hearts and minds of afghan civilians, but tonight will's a disturbing development and a story david martin first reported back in may, u.s. troops accused of killing civilians in cold blood. david tells us 12 soldiers are now facing military charges. >> reporter: if the charges are proven, this was the platoon from hell. five american soldiers accused of murdering afghan civilians just because they could. seven more involved in the coverup, plus mutilating corpses, taking pot shots at afghan civilians, smoking hash, and beating up a private who blew the whistle.

they may have done more harm to the american cause in afghanistan than any equivalent number of taliban could hope to cause. >> this is the kind of thing that hurts us enormously and it will have a disproportionate effect just like abu ghraib did, just like any such incident. just like that koran burning would in florida. >> reporter: the soldiers were operating in the taliban heartland near kandahar where they were supposed to be winning hearts and minds. according to court documents, it began when sergeant calvin gibbs seen here in a high school photo joked about how easy it would be to toss a grenade at someone and kill them. it turned into a conspiracy when five soldiers allegedly formed a kill team and on separate occasions murdered three afghan civilians, apparently chosen at random. defense attorneys intend to fight the charges but whatever the outcome of the court case, the damage in afghanistan has already been done. david martin, cbs news, the pentagon. >> couric: meanwhile, here in new york, imam rauf today defended his plan to build an

islamic cultural center two blocks from ground zero. he said he's sensitive to the feelings of the 9/11 families but he said the center-- which will include prayer spaces for muslims, christians and jews-- is intended to cultivate understanding among all religions and cultures. in texas, hermine weakened today from a tropical storm to a tropical depression but not before dumping as much as ten inches of rain in some places over the past 24 hours. at least two people drowned in the floods that followed and don teague reports others barely escaped the rushing water. >> reporter: a dramatic scene in arlington, texas, where torrential rain turned a creek into a raging river, surrounding a nearby apartment complex and trapping at least 90 people. >> literally within 30 minutes it was so high that we couldn't even walk back and forth from the apartments. >> reporter: the water came up so fast over such a wide area rescuers here and in communities across texas were overwhelmed.

>> it just came up a lot quicker than we expected and quicker than we were able to take care of it because we were having rescue calls all over the city. >> reporter: what's left of tropical storm hermine has spent two days marching across the state, flooding communities from san antonio and austin north to fort worth and dallas. in some areas, more than a foot of rain has fallen. floodwaters overwhelming roads, bridges, and neighborhoods. in nolanville, high water swept away several mobile homes, their owners escaped but now have nothing. >> we're 76 and 77 years old. we've got to start all over now. >> reporter: well, as quickly as this creek rose, it has fallen, but it was roaring over this bridge just a few hours ago. now the flood threat is to the north in oklahoma and then to kansas as the the remnants of this storm move knot. katie? >> couric: don teague in arlington, texas, tonight. don, thanks very much. storm clouds over colorado tonight may do some good in the fight against a wildfire near

boulder. the fire about 12 miles outside the city has burned 6,000 acres and 140 homes, businesses, and other structures. four people are still missing and about 3,000 have been evacuated. barry petersen spoke with some of them. >> reporter: more than a third of the nation's heavy air firefighting assets-- eight of 19 available air tankers-- are now on this fire. but efforts from the air and from as many as 300 firefighters on the ground have not stopped the destruction. sue schauffler was forced out of her home this morning. >> 20 years here. we've been here 20 years. you can't imagine. i can't imagine losing this place. >> reporter: but the fire was bearing down. >> i can see the smoke, i don't see the flames. >> reporter: people who live in these mountains do it for the beauty and being close to nature and they know that pitch that kerr turn violent and take everything. tom and veruska trask had five minutes to flee. >> five or six propane tanks on

the hill above us exploded. it was like a war zone. >> reporter: officials say it could be a couple more days before residents are allowed back up these roads before they'll find out what they have left or what they have lost. barry petersen, cbs news, near boulder, colorado. >> couric: in detroit, a series of fires gutted sections of three neighborhoods. flames leapd from building to building, burning 85 homes and garages. high winds fanned the flames and may have even started the fires by bringing down power lines yesterday. but two fires are being investigated as arson. no one has been injured. now to the economy. the latest assessment from the federal reserve is that it's growing but slowing. the fed says the economy weakened this summer, especially in the east and the midwest which is where president obama was today. he went to ohio to talk up his latest economic plan-- more spending on infrastructure projects and tax credits for businesses. but the president insisted the bush tax cuts for higher-income

earners-- couples making more than $250,000 a year-- will not be extended when they expire at the end of the year. it's been nearly five months since the deepwater horizon rig exploded in the gulf of mexico. 11 workers died and it led to the biggest oil spill in u.s. history. today b.p. put out a report on what went wrong. mark strassmann tells us it's 200 pages and contains a lot of finger pointing. >> reporter: for this deadly disaster, b.p.'s internal review largely says "don't blame us, blame them." hallhalliburton and transocean,o of its subcontractors on the doomed by what b.p. called a complex and interlinked series of failures. on its web site today, b.p. said halliburton botched sealing the well. >> halliburton did not conduct comprehensive lab tests. >> reporter: in b.p.'s version of events, halliburton's bad cement job allowed natural gas to seep into the well which

eventually blew out right through the center of its pipe. but other analysts suspect the well's outer casing chosen by b.p. despite knowing it was cheaper and riskier. b.p.'s report also faults transocean, the rig's owner, for misreading a pressure test that showed the well was volatile. but b.p. concedes its own representative on board also agreed to go ahead anyway. and once the well's crisis began, b.p. blames transocean for routeing leaking gas on to the rig rather than venting it safelior board. and lastly, for maintaining a faulty blowout preventer. it should have cut off the flow of oil and gas but failed. a cascade of mistakes that ended in disaster. >> if they'd prevented any one of those things in that series we might not have had the blowout that we had. >> reporter: today's b.p. report prompted another flurry of finger pointing by all three companies-- much like this congressional hearing back in may. >> b.p. as a leaseholder and the

operator of the well hired transocean to drill that well. >> reporter: after b.p. released its findings, today transocean blasted the oil giant for a self-serving report that attempts to conceal b.p.'s fatally flawed well design. hall burn on the said b.p.'s report contained substantial omissions and inaccuracies. the well owner, b.p., is responsible. b.p.'s staking out a legal position. it well design was fine, the real problem was the way other companies executed. katie? >> couric: mark strassmann, mark, thanks very much. still ahead here on the "cbs evening news," a dance lesson from scientists? what they say men can do to attract women on the dance floor. but up next, why we could see more attacks by grizzly bears. here's a myth: you get nothing for driving safely. truth: at allstate, you get a check in the mail

twice a year, every year you don't have an accident. the safe driving bonus® check. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. until the combination of three good probiotics in phillips' colon health defended against the bad gas, diarrhea and constipation. ...and? it helped balance her colon. oh, now that's the best part. i love your work. [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now, i can join the fun and games with my grandchildren. great news! for people with copd, including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or both, advair helps significantly improve lung function. while nothing can reverse copd, advair is different from most other copd medications because it contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help you breathe better. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair

may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. i had fun today, grandpa. you and me both. if copd is still making it hard to breathe, ask your doctor if including advair will help improve your lung function for better breathing. get your first full prescription free and save on refills. well, it can show you the thmost fuel-efficient route to where you're going. it can find the best price on gas. >> show fuel prices. vo: and now its v6 gets the best highway fuel economy in its class. say hello to the new ford edge. quite possibly the world's smartest crossover. let's take a look at the stats. mini has more than double the fiber and whole grain...

making him a great contender in this bout... against mid-morning hunger. honey nut cheerios is coming in a little short. you've got more whole grain in your little finger! let's get ready for breakfaaaaaaaaaast! ( ding, cheering, ringing ) keeping you full and focused with more than double the fiber and whole grain... in every tasty bite -- frrrrrrosted mini-wheeeeats! didn't know i had it in me. >> couric: this summer we've had some tragic reminders that america's wilderness is still wild. two people were killed in separate grizzly bear attacks outside yellowstone national park about a month apart. john blackstone tells us why some fear there could be even more attacks. >> reporter: of all the natural beauty in yellowstone national park, what many visitors come to see is the largest most terrifying predator on the continent-- the grizzly bear. >> i think it's like a mythical creature. everyone sort of has an opinion

about it. >> reporter: in 1975, grizzly bears were listed as a threatened species. since then, their numbers have grown steadily. now some 600 grizzliesly in and around yellowstone. but not always peacefully. >> reporter: in july, campers called 911 after a bear rampaged through a campground just outside yellowstone national park. camper deb freele was attacked as she slept. >> the bear grabbed me here and then... and behind and laid open my arm from here to there and then bit again here and here, broke the bone here. >> reporter: another camper was killed by the bear. his death came just over a month after a botanist was mauled to death by another of the region's grizzlies. the two deaths were outside the boundaries of yellowstone national park, but the grizzlies

pay no attention to boundaries. each bear can roam across hundreds of square miles in search of food. and this year there's a shortage of one of the bears' favorite foods-- cones from the white bark pine. as the bears search for other things to eat as they put on weight for winter, there's worry they'll start running into people. >> a mother bear will teach her cubs "come get garbage" in the fall when they need to fatten up for hibernation. >> reporter: in montana on the edge of the park, ilona popper runs abear awareness group that urges everyone to use bear-proof garbage cans as the first line of defense. >> when they start seeing these things around town they give it a pass. >> reporter: at one time in yellowstone, garbage was actually put out for the bears and tourists would often feed bears by hand. trouble was, the bears started associated humans with food and attacks in the park were frequent. >> from the 1930s through the 1960s we averaged 48 bear >> from the 1930s through the 1960s we averaged 48 bear maulings every year.

>> reporter: today, bear attacks are rare, but the death this is year are a reminder that bear country is dangerous. grizzlies are predators that can and will eat almost anything. john blackstone, cbs news, yellowstone national park. [ male announcer ] this is rachel, a busy mom.

she starts at dawn and so does her back pain. that's two pills for a four hour drive. the drive is done. so it's a day of games and two more pills. the games are over, her pain is back, that's two more pills. and when she's finally home, but hang on, just two aleve can keep back pain away all day

with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rachel, who chose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. ♪ >> couric: computers can't read your mind-- not yet anyway, but they're getting closer. introducing google instant. it displays search results as soon as you begin typing a request, changing as each new

character is typed and predicting which sites you may want to visit. and for all of you in a big hurry, google said today the new technology will save two to five seconds per search. well this doesn't happen very often-- an umpire ejecting a fan. it happened in milwaukee last night during the brewers' 4-2 win over st. louis. home plate umpire bob davidson had already tossed a player, a manager, and a coach. in the seventh inning, a fan was heckling the cardinals so loudly that davidson stopped the game and threw him out. police charged the fan with disorderly conduct. here's a tip for you men out there. if you want to feel good about the way you look, forget the gym, just go shopping. "esquire" magazine did and found a big difference between the size of the labels and the real size of a pair of pants. for example, it found at the gap what was labeled a 36 inch waist really measured 39. a 36 for dockers 39.5 and at old navy a 36 was really a 41. don't worry, guys, it's what we

women have been calling "vanity sizing" for years. and coming up next, the science of dancing. what harry has to do if he really wants to meet sally. >> you go dancing, with you do the white man's overbite... yok of a heart attack or stroke. i was going to tell you. if you have p.a.d., plavix can help protect you from a heart attack or stroke. plavix helps keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots, the cause of most heart attacks and strokes. call the doctor about plavix -- please? i will. [ male announcer ] certain genetic factors and some medicines such as prilosec reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines

including aspirin may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take including aspirin especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than two weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. [ female announcer ] talk to your doctor about plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. no oil has flowed into the gulf for weeks, but it's just the beginning of our work. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. my job is to listen to the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel and restaurant workers and find ways to help. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. bp is gonna be here until the oil is gone and the people and businesses are back to normal... until we make this right.

♪ that's not really my style, honey. weird, i can't find it. ♪ [ female announcer ] new tide original with acti-lift technology helps remove many dry stains as if they were fresh. hey! you found it. yeah, it must have been hiding in my closet. [ female announcer ] new tide original with acti-lift. style is an option. clean is not. get acti-lift in these tide detergents. you're checking out my awesome headband. that's when you find out your cut-rate insurance it ain't payin' for this. so get allstate. [ dennis ] dollar for dollar nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate. >> couric: we end tonight with

a little dance lesson. it's for men who want to shake their groove thing but you women are welcome to watch because that, according to scientists, what are you're doing anyway. richard schlesinger shows us what men have to do out on the dance floor to appeal to the opposite sex. ♪ dancing, yeah... >> reporter: it's the question posed and pondered in movies, nightclubs and man caves. what do women want? what can a man do, at least on the dance floor, to attract attention without attracting the vice squad? >> i would say the hips are probably where most of the business is done. >> reporter: there's now scientific evidence that she's right and here it is. british researchers-- apparently with some time on their hands-- had computer generated avatars made of real men dancing. they showed them to women to gauge their reaction and these are the moves the women liked. >> it's the movements of the head, the neck, and the upper

body and these movements are large movements but they're also variable. >> reporter: remember, this is science. researchers call this biometric analysis. 19 young men danced while 12 cameras recorded their every move and fed them into a computer. women rated the avatars' performances. the point is, apparently, to compare men dancing to animal mating rituals. >> across the animal kingdom, males dance. they perform very demanding rituals for females. and we wondered if the same thing was happening in human males. >> reporter: and, not so surprisingly, it looks like it is. simply put: guys who dance like this are less likely to impress females. >> you go dancing, you do the white man's overbite... >> somebody who's just walking around in a circle nodding their head, for example, that's a terrible dancer. >> reporter: in the field of evolutionary psychology, being

called a terrible dancer isn't a judgment, it's a warning. good dancers attract good mates so learn to dance for the good of the species. richard schlesinger, cbs news, new york. >> couric: that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. i'm katie couric. thank you for watching. i'll see you back here tomorrow. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org from the first local station with news in high definition, this is 9news now. >> tonight in your only local news at 7:00, your fate or

mice? a proposed ban on religious displays has been quashed in one local county. plus the ballot backlash. funny business with the ballots and fighting back. a woman is sexually assaulted at the neighborhood bus stop, but she gave her attacker more than he could handle. i'm delia where neighbors want to tear down this brick wall after police say a suspect who may have been hiding behind this wall approached a woman standing at this bus stop and sexually assaulted her 4:30 this morning. >> it's creepy. i can't believe that it happened so close to home. >> my coal johnston waits for her ride to work at la vista drive. one of her neighbors was sexually assaulted. >> i was supposed to go in at 6:30 this morning, but i called and asked if i could come in later because of what happened. >> she fought off her attacker, police say,